The current president, Joe Biden, arrives with the popularity touched to some elections that promise to be especially close. Polls point to a Republican victory in the House of Representatives.
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US citizens are called to vote tomorrow, November 8, in the midterm elections —known as ‘midterm’—, of which the most important will have the Capitol as the protagonist.
The ballot boxes will determine the composition of the House of Representatives and the Senate for the next two years. At stake, therefore, is the room for maneuver of the current tenant of the White House.
What is voted?
The House of Representatives It is fully renewed every two years. Their 435 seats they are distributed according to the population of each one of the states, in such a way that California has 52 congressmen and Wyoming, the least populated territory, with only one.
Currently, the Democrats control this legislative body thanks to their 220 seats, eight more than the Republicans, which allows the Biden party to approve any project without complications or even promote initiatives such as the investigation into the assault on the Capitol on January 6, 2021.
The Senate, for its part, is renewed by thirds, with two seats per state, regardless of its population. Each senator gets a six-year term and, this time, they are at stake 35 seats from a total of 34 states.
The Upper House, which has among its powers to endorse or overthrow public officials or judges appointed by the president of the United States, is currently divided, with 50 seats for each of the two major parties. However, the Democrats technically control it, since the tiebreaker vote falls on the Presidency of the Senate, held by Biden’s ‘number two’, Kamala Harris.
Kamala Harris. Photo: EFE
The main keys
Controlling at least one of the chambers is key for any of the parties, since it allows them to promote their own legislative agenda and hinder the opponent’s. The president, however, has room to enact or veto the laws that emanate from Congress.
The surveys take nothing for granted, although the most likely scenario points to a Republican victory in the House of Representatives. If so, current President Joe Biden and his supporters would lose the ability to promote some of the measures he has promised to promote, for example to enshrine the right to abortion in a federal law or introduce new controls on the sale of firearms. assault.
The Republican Party, in addition, would manage to reverse the trend of the last elections in a key context, prior to the 2024 presidential elections, and would have one of its members as the third highest authority in the country. Current House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy is the most likely choice to chair the body.
In the Senate, the Democrats have ‘a priori’ more control options, although everything indicates that there will be no great imbalances in favor of either of the two parties. If the Republicans were to surprise and also control the Upper House, Biden’s political stability would be complicated, and he would only have to resort to the veto tool and hope for better luck two years from now.
Without either of the two chambers under his control, the president would be forced to focus on issues that do not depend so much on the approval of Congress, for example foreign policy proposals, if he wants to leave some important legacy in his last years or reinforce his campaign of facing the potential re-election in the presidential elections of 2024.
Joe Biden intends to consecrate the right to abortion with a federal law. Photo: EFE
other choices
On the sidelines of the legislative elections, voting will be held in 36 states to elect the governor. The polls see different fortunes for the parties, in such a way that the Democrats can recover Massachusetts and Maryland and the Republicans Nevada, Wisconsin and even Oregon, where the emergence of a third candidate has marked the race.
There will also be local elections in dozens of cities, while more than a hundred state-level measures will be put to the vote. Proposals that may restrict the right to abortion will be voted on in several states, and the total list includes initiatives on weapons, gambling or marijuana.
Source: Eitb
I’m Tifany Hawkins, a professional journalist with years of experience in news reporting. I currently work for a prominent news website and write articles for 24NewsReporters as an author. My primary focus is on economy-related stories, though I am also experienced in several other areas of journalism.